Virgin Blue announcements 26/08

[straitman]

Virgin Blue Makes Major Changes


Aug 27, 2010
By Leithen Francis

Australia’s Virgin Blue Group has announced a tie-up with Etihad Airways to reach travelers in Europe and the Middle East, and has also decided to add Airbus A330s and sell its Embraer 170s.

Two A330-200s will be coming in May 2011 on lease from BOC Aviation and will be deployed on the Sydney-Perth route, says the airline. It plans to add more A330s in the future, says Virgin Blue CEO John Borghetti, who declines to elaborate.

The company’s strategy is “simple and logical,” says Borghetti, adding, “We have to move away from depending so much on the leisure market” and do more to attract the corporate market. Borghetti declines to disclose what Virgin Blue’s new business-class offering will be. An announcement on this will be made later, he says.

 

[harvyk]

DJ to use A330's east coast to PER

Virgin Blue > News and Press Releases


It looks like DJ will be introducing A330's into transcon routes.

Mr Borghetti said the introduction of the two Airbus A330-200 would increase the fleet size to 90 aircraft and provide additional flexibility, capacity and product opportunities to better penetrate both the leisure, corporate and government markets.

“The first A330-200s will operate services between Perth and the east coast of Australia enabling Virgin Blue to grow available capacity, especially at peak times, extending the airline’s appeal to business travellers,” he said.

Mr Borghetti said the wide body services would provide Guests with an enhanced in-flight experience and a convenient schedule, connecting seamlessly with the Group’s other domestic and international services.

“The Airbus A330-200 will truly be a game changer. This aircraft type is perfect for growing our fleet and network capabilities,” he added.

I wonder if they will be announcing a new name and branding with the release of these two jets?

 

[markis10]

Re: DJ to use A330's east coast to PER

Mentioned in three other threads, what has not been mentioned it the parking locations at PER for them!

 

[straitman]

Re: DJ to use A330's east coast to PER

Virgin Blue > News and Press Releases


It looks like DJ will be introducing A330's into transcon routes.





I wonder if they will be announcing a new name and branding with the release of these two jets?

This is already being discussed here:


Virgin Blue announcements 26/08

 

[straitman]

Impact of Virgin Blue's new CEO John Borghetti starts to show

Posted by Leithen Francis at 8/26/2010 8:33 PM CDT
John Borghetti, who became CEO of Virgin Blue Group in May, is starting to put his stamp on the business. He has called in some old mates and he is making use of the knowledge he gained from working at Qantas Airways for 36 years.

Borghetti, who is fluent in Italian, comes from an Italian migrant family and worked his way up from the mail room at Qantas to be executive general manager. He left Qantas after getting passed over for the top job.

Having worked in the aviation industry for so long, some of his business relationships go back a long way. For example, he grew up in Melbourne and early on in his career worked for Qantas at Melbourne Airport. This is where he became friends with James Hogan, who was a baggage handler at the time but is now CEO of Etihad Airways.

 

[pauly7]

Virgin Blue Makes Major Changes


Aug 27, 2010
By Leithen Francis
Australia’s Virgin Blue Group has announced a tie-up with Etihad Airways to reach travelers in Europe and the Middle East, and has also decided to add Airbus A330s and sell its Embraer 170s.

Two A330-200s will be coming in May 2011 on lease from BOC Aviation and will be deployed on the Sydney-Perth route, says the airline. It plans to add more A330s in the future, says Virgin Blue CEO John Borghetti, who declines to elaborate.

The company’s strategy is “simple and logical,” says Borghetti, adding, “We have to move away from depending so much on the leisure market” and do more to attract the corporate market. Borghetti declines to disclose what Virgin Blue’s new business-class offering will be. An announcement on this will be made later, he says.

Bye Bye Jungle Jets (well at least some of them).

At least DJ are making the tough decisions - they have been a nightmare for them to manage, time to go!

 

[markis10]

Bye Bye Jungle Jets (well at least some of them).

At least DJ are making the tough decisions - they have been a nightmare for them to manage, time to go!

They are adding three E190s, not sure but I suspect the loss of the E170's will mean no more PMQ.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

OT;
Looking at buying a ticket for a relative to come over to SYD on October 13th 2010.

Direct flights, 1 is $26 (+$10 for luggage) dearer than QF and the next 3 direct flights are $47 (+10 luggage) dearer and up it goes.

QF provides a meal/drinks and 23kg luggage.
DJ meal/drinks bought at passengers expense and luggage too.

View attachment 1136View attachment 1137


And here l was thinking that DJ were a "semi" LCC. An "in-between" Tiger and QF.

 

[samh004]

Noticeably those dates you’ve selected are for the day after the sale begins, if you look back a few days, is the difference the same?

 

[crazydave98]

And to answer my own question posted the other day; Virgin have ended interlining agreements with Emirates.

No, not true. The interline agreement is continuing (that is you can still book an itinerary with segments on both carriers on the one ticket and have yourself and bags checked through).

Wonder if Emirates will have a chat to QF now.... stranger things have happened! Although the impending JQ expansion into the UAE may make that difficult....

No need for them to chat to Qantas - have done very well without any support from Qantas (who in fact constantly snipes at all Middle Eastern carriers for having "unfair advantages"). James Hogan (CEO of Etihad) made it clear in the media that Qantas had refused to give him a more expansive deal because JQ will be going into the Middle East so Qantas reasoned that EY needed QF more than QF needed any middle eastern carrier.

 

[yohy?!]

OT;
Looking at buying a ticket for a relative to come over to SYD on October 13th 2010.

Direct flights, 1 is $26 (+$10 for luggage) dearer than QF and the next 3 direct flights are $47 (+10 luggage) dearer and up it goes.

QF provides a meal/drinks and 23kg luggage.
DJ meal/drinks bought at passengers expense and luggage too.

And here l was thinking that DJ were a "semi" LCC. An "in-between" Tiger and QF.

I'd rather have the option to buy or not to buy my 'meal' on QF (if it can be considered that) not to mention their idea of IFE. Ditto with baggage.

A few dollars difference here or there is par for the course really depending on how far out you book and the various sales.

 

[dajop]

And here l was thinking that DJ were a "semi" LCC. An "in-between" Tiger and QF.

Being an LCC is more than just paying for meals and luggage. We could get into a huge discourse, but if that is the criteria for being an LCC (vs a semi LCC) then AA, UA, DL etc and most European airlines are therefore all LCCs as well. What moves DJ beyond LCC status is interlining, status recognition, lounges, FF programs etc.

And remember "Low Cost" means Low Operating Costs, not necessarily low fare costs, as can be seen when Tiger fares MEL-OOL can exceed $200.....

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Being an LCC is more than just paying for meals and luggage. We could get into a huge discourse, but if that is the criteria for being an LCC (vs a semi LCC) then AA, UA, DL etc and most European airlines are therefore all LCCs as well. What moves DJ beyond LCC status is interlining, status recognition, lounges, FF programs etc.

And remember "Low Cost" means Low Operating Costs, not necessarily low fare costs, as can be seen when Tiger fares MEL-OOL can exceed $200.....

I "assumed" that 45-60 days out for a domestic booking, QF "would be more expensive" and DJ. How wrong l was. Definitely pays to shop around.

I first checked Tiger (they had horrible times and you have to buy a separate ticket from MEL-SYD which means if the PER-MEL is delayed, you could be up for an expensive MEL-SYD ticket) and then went to DJ. Shock horror at DJ's prices l then checked QF and was "pleasantly surprised" to find them cheaper than DJ.

 

[dajop]

I "assumed" that 45-60 days out for a domestic booking, QF "would be more expensive" and DJ. How wrong l was. Definitely pays to shop around..

Great thing about competition. QF pricing very competitively obviously to fill their (larger) planes and at the same time make life difficult for DJ!

 

[oz_mark]

I "assumed" that 45-60 days out for a domestic booking, QF "would be more expensive" and DJ. How wrong l was. Definitely pays to shop around.

A point that a number of people have made a number of times in various threads. It always pays to check the various options, and select something that suits you.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Great thing about competition. QF pricing very competitively obviously to fill their (larger) planes and at the same time make life difficult for DJ!

Can l throw a hyperthetical scenario out there then?

When DJ get their A330's, would it start a price war on the PER-SYD/MEL sectors? Lowest fare from QF on a PER-SYD was $199 (from memory + in recent times).

 

[anat0l]

Can l throw a hyperthetical scenario out there then?

When DJ get their A330's, would it start a price war on the PER-SYD/MEL sectors? Lowest fare from QF on a PER-SYD was $199 (from memory + in recent times).

I believe $199 or a bit lower was QF's time in GFC era.

A price war to drive that lower would be excellent. Hopefully QF response to price challenge != more JQ at the expense of QF on the route.

 

[mannej]

I am more interested to see what DJ will be doing up the pointy end of the bus.
The EK J product in the A330 was dated (unless they have been refitted recently), and the only advantage of keeping the J product is the greater seat pitch (except if flying on a QF intl. A330).

In regards to pricing, I think that QF has PER-SYD down to $169 last boxing day sale.

 

[notzac]

Hopefully QF response to price challenge != more JQ at the expense of QF on the route.

I believe that's called "wishful thinking" .. happy to be proven wrong, but I'm fully expecting a small handful of I fares on QF metal and a bunch of JQ capacity to show up when DJ starts stepping it up on the transcons.

 

[dajop]

The EK J product in the A330 was dated (unless they have been refitted recently), and the only advantage of keeping the J product is the greater seat pitch (except if flying on a QF intl. A330).

Dated in look/style of dated in seat features? Never experienced it, but if it's anything like the much maligned CX and SQ regional products then it's probably not too bad - I gather for these sorts of products a lot of the criticism comes because they are used for more than just regional (4-5 hr sectors), but for longer flights between Asia & ME/Aus/Japan and I assume for EK Europe as well. For sitting up on shorter flights I find the older regional products with their plentiful padding more comfortable than the sleek designer seats that often have less padding than a seat on suburban train in Melbourne.

But of course we all like shiny new toys